Archive for June, 2021

Managing a Restaurant

June 6th, 2021

Managers possess a great responsibility and they wear many hats. Managers are not born leaders they are developed.

Managers are educated in two ways:

Management College Degree or technical school diploma.
The employees that moved up in the ranks then became managers.
Technical School:

You can earn a diploma in restaurant management, it will normally take up to 6 to 10 months depending on the school.

College Degree

You can also earn a degree in Restaurant Management Associate of Applied Science Degree (AAS) it will usually require upwards of 14 to 18 months depending on the college or school. Going to college to learn about restaurant management is more about book knowledge than on the job training. Some colleges or technical schools have programs that you can actually work in a restaurant to practice your trade.

There are two types of restaurant managers:

Managers who delegate
Managers that are hands-on
To be a successful manager, you need to learn how to be hands on and learn how to delegate, a mix of both worlds.

Most corporate restaurants have some form of management training programs.

There are two options that restaurants may provide for management training:

Train at a training restaurant
Train at a corporate location
Position Training:

Managers need to know how to server, prep, cook, greet and wash dishes. If an employee calls out managers can try to fill in the position by calling another employee.

If the manager is unable to get someone to fill in for that particular position, then the manager needs to work in that position. It is not an option to close the restaurant down for that particular day; too much revenue will be lost.

The manager will designate a lead person such as a head waiter or another employee that is capable of watching the front of the home so that the manager can cook in the kitchen.

It would be really great idea to cross train every cook in every position in the kitchen.

The manager will only stay in the kitchen long enough until the check times are caught up. The lead person should communicate to the manager in the kitchen when issues arise.

The manager will advise the lead person on how to handle the issue or the manger will leave the kitchen temporarily to handle the issue themselves.

What are some of the things that managers need to know in order to operate a restaurant?

Managers Walk-through and Figure Eights:

Managers will conduct a walk-through in the entire restaurant at the beginning the shift preparing the shift for success. This process is commonly known as the manager’s walk-through and figure eights. The managers walking path starts in the parking lot: as the manager walks through the parking and the restaurant they are correcting issues as they go or they are writing down the issues to delegate to employees to rectify. The manager should be on this path at the beginning, throughout and the end of the shift. In other words the manager should touch every area in the restaurant to insure all is good.

Example:

When the manager is in the back of the house they should be observing ticket times, if they are falling behind standard check times, then the manager should help the kitchen catch up on the tickets and then jump out when they are caught up.

The manager should check the refrigerator and freezer temperatures to make sure they are not in the temperature danger zone. If it is slow in the dining room, then the manager should also quickly check to see if the walk-ins are organized, stocked, use of date dots, expired product and rotation. If there are issues to be addressed, then the manager will assign them to cooks to correct after the rush times.

Preparation Area:

While the manager is conducting the manager’s walk-through and figure eights and they in are the prep area they should be:

Reviewing with the prep person the prep sheet to ensure the product amount is correct along with the weights and recipe specs. The prep person should be responsible for the organization, use of date dots, rotation and pull thaw for all storage areas: walk-in refrigerator, walk-in freezer and dry storage. As part of the checkout process the manager needs to verify that all tasks have been completed correctly.
Touching Customer Tables:

Managers need to be out of the office and on the floor giving direction to the employees and interacting with guest by visiting the customer’s tables. A rule of thumb in managing a restaurant is to be out of the office, 90% of the time, and in the office 10% of the time.

If you are in the office it should be during off-peak times and only when you are working on managerial paperwork such as:

Updating sales figure
Sales projections
Creating employee work schedules
Food and beverage orders
Inventory
End of the shift paperwork and cash counts
Etc.
When conducting food orders or inventory you should be scheduled to do that task, another manager should be on the floor running the shift. You cannot afford to create negative customer service all because there is no manager presence in the dining room..

It is a known fact that customer complaints are at the highest during non-peak times. During the non-peak times, everyone normally winds down and gets into the relaxed mode.

You would believe that employee performance would be at the highest during non-peak times, this is not so. This is the time where employees are cut and sent home due to low sales.

You may create customer service related issues during non-peak times that is if your employees are not crossed trained in more than one position.

If your restaurant gets too many customer complaints forget about repeat business. Build your business one customer at a time.

Be professional, bright and personable. Refer to your guest by their first names. Teach your staff members to learn your frequent guest first names.

It is easy: approach the table and introduce yourself by your first name, then ask them for their first names.

Example: Hello, my name is “Dawn” and I will be your server for the day and your names are?

This is a great technique to get the first names of your guest. You are adding a personal touch and at the same time you are making your guest feel special as if they are very important persons (VIP).

Think of it this way, as long as you are providing WOW customer service and serving hot quality food, then the servers should receive above average tips and not to mention the restaurant may receive repeat business from that customer.